Neill loses fortune over West Ham contract stalemate

Lucas Neill has missed out on a cool £245,000 since coming off contract at West Ham United, it has been revealed.

Lucas Neill has missed out on a cool £245,000 since coming off contract at West Ham United, it has been revealed.

The Telegraph says Neill, after a patchy period, did well for West Ham. And West Ham did well for the Australian. A wage of £60,000-a-week – that's £240,000 a month so, over roughly 30 months, that's £7.2 million. For a right-back. A good one but not a great one.

So West Ham wanted him to be paid, its understood, £30,000-a-week and offered a two-year deal. Neill refused. After all others at the club were earning far more and he was the captain. Also this was probably his last Premier League contract so he stood his ground. West Ham also offered him two years – it's thought Neill proposed 12 months at more like £50,000 to £60,000 a week.

Negotiations continued and, in fairness, West Ham relented, upping their offer. Now it's thought they would pay £35,000-a-week plus appearance and bonus money taking Neill to within a couple of thousand pounds of £50,000-a-week.

Again he refused. So his contract ran out and since the end of June he's not been paid. So, if we take the £35,000 basic wage and multiply that over, say, seven weeks then Neill has missed out on £245,000.

"I'm sorry about this situation, but I don't understand and don't want to comment," manager Gianfranco Zola said. "He was in talks with West Ham, then I find out he was in talks with Galatasaray and with Sunderland. Now I don't know what's going on. But he's out, and that's no good for him. For the moment, he's not our priority in that position."